Today I finally got around to taking the Google Analytic Individual Qualification (GAIQ) exam that I have been meaning to take for the last 12 months. Although disappointed in the score (88%), I am glad that I have passed and got it out of the way, and can now say that I am a qualified user of Google Analytics.
Now that I have passed I wanted to provide you guys with some tips and suggestions that you might like to use when taking your exam. Although I didn’t think the exam was ridiculously difficult, I did find that the hardest part was to decipher what Google were providing for the multiple choice answers. Depending on how you read the question, you may provide completely different answers.
Other than that it was a standard multiple choice exam with 70 questions and 90 minutes to get them done in. Once you have started the exam, you are able to pause and complete it at a later date (within 120 hours/5days), mark for review, and skip questions to look at again later.
Before you start your exam I would recommend doing some revision (pot, kettle, black), and ensuring that you are completely familiar with all the reports within Google Analytics and have a good knowledge or at the very least a Google Adwords account to look through.
Recommended Study Material
Google provide a number of reading sources including videos to watch, these are all available on the Google Analytics IQ Lessons section of the GA website. The majority of the videos you will/should know quite well, but I would suggest that you watch all of them paying particularly close attention to the following:
As well as these videos, ensure that you are aware of eCommerce and Sub-Domain tracking, whilst also be confident in setting up goals. I know that some people get concerned when thinking of taking an exam, due to the need to remember so much material, but don’t stress to much as the GAIQ exam is open book.
Recommended Open Book Material
Since the GAIQ exam is an open book exam I would recommend having a number of tabs already open so that you can refer to them during the exam. These sources and tools can then be used in case you come across any questions that you are not quite sure on or need some reassurance from. Below I have listed a few that you might find useful when taking the exam.
- Google Analytics
- Google Adwords
- Google Analyitcs Help Centre
- RegEx Coach or RegEx Pal
- Cookies & Google Analytics
- URL Builder
- IP Range Tool
Finally
I have been using GA for a long time now and thought that I knew all that was required to pass the test, and it so happens that I did (just). If I would have revised properly, I believe that I could of passed with a better score, and being the competitive person that I am, it bothers me. If you are to take your exam in the near future, I would highly recommend that you do lots of revision before taking the exam, and ensure that you have all the resources you need available to you during the test.
I look forward to hearing that you have beaten my score in the comments below soon.
Congrats and well done Dan! I don’t understand how you can feel disappointed with 88% 😛
Hi Shaad, Thanks for the comment. I think that if I would of done some proper revision that I could of got a much better score, which is why I was disappointed. When are you going to take yours?
Congratulations mate – I need to take mine too! I’ve been putting it off for far too long as well.
Cheers Paul, Finally got round to doing it after all this time. Recommend doing a little bit of revision before taking the exam, let me know how you get on.
Thanks for a very informative and honest post! I passed it on to my husband, who’s also been putting off taking the exam for too long 🙂